BBFC defends Canis rating

A senior examiner for the British Board of Film Classification has defended the organisation's decision to award Canis Canem Edit a 15 certificate.

"You can understand the concerns of a subject that hits the headlines fairly frequently in this country. Often the truth is far less dramatic than the myth that's put around it," Gianni Zamo told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz in an interview due to be published next week.

Canis Canem Edit is the PS2 game better known to most people by its US title Bully. It's been subjected to a lot of criticism by anti-bullying campaigners in the UK, with MP Keith Vaz also hopping on the bandwagon recently.

But Zamo reckons that developer/publisher Rockstar took a relatively considered approach - something largely reflected by very positive reviews.

"It's not just a free-for-all, go out and kick the living daylights out of everybody [game]," Zamo pointed out. "There are penalties for engaging in anti-social behaviour, so I think Rockstar have been careful to balance it out in that respect."